Flying fox...

[MissD]

I could only tell them apart if I had a definite picture of the two beside me

I don't really mind what breed my guys are. They're doing a great job keeping the glass clean. The white head one can just be magical or, uhh...something

 

[lizard]

SAE's are the "good" algae eaters. Flying Foxes are the ones that look similar, but aren't as good at eating algae (and perhaps are more aggressive, I'm not sure). CAEs are decent algae eaters when they're little, but then get big and sometimes nasty. Both of yours look like CAEs to me. The "discolored" one is sometimes sold as a 'Gold Algae Eater'. There are some that are entirely that pale color, and some with the gray. I've always assumed they were a color variation of the CAE, and I think they are, but I'd have to double check.

Clear as mud?

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[Mr Miagi]

lizard is right. I believe you have a CAE, or chinese algae eater.

These CAN get nsaty towards your other aquarium inhabitants, but some are found to be docile. I think your far better off with an SAE, or siamese algae eater or some oto's.

Here is a link, scroll to the bottum of the page...it gives you a list of suitable algae eaters and clearly and preciselydemonstrates what seperates the CAE from the SAE! Enjoy....

http/www.plantgeek.net/article_viewer.php?id=9

 

[MissD]

Great, thanks for that.

I was so confused. They were sold to me as flying foxes, but I was then told be a few people that they were SAEs, and another few said that they were CAEs...

All that I have in the tank with them are cories, dojo loaches and guppies. They seem alright with the dojo loaches - they all sit together, and the cories are always doing their own thing so they tend to ignore them. They're up and down the glass all the time, but I find it's the guppies that come up and have a look at them rather than the other way around.

Hopefully I won't run into problems as they get bigger, although when they do they'll need to go in a bigger tank anyway, so I suppose it may not be a problem after all.

 

[rdd1952]

A flying fox has a stripe down the side and down the top of the back. The stripe on it's side also extends all the way through the tail. What you have definitely looks like a chinese algae eater to me. Here's a good link that shows/tells the difference between True SAE, Flying Foxes and False SAE.